Friday, April 22, 2011

Most of you are aware that I spent nine years living in Las Vegas from September through May guiding in Red Rock Canyon. In that time I developed a series of "special" routes that I would take people on. Often these were two popular routes combined in a way that provided some of the best climbing from both routes.

Recently I was back in Vegas working Red Rock Rendezvous, a Single Pitch Instructor course and doing some regular multi-pitch guiding. I had the opportunity to work with a woman that I've worked with a handful of times over the years. Toni is a great person to climb with and she has had the opportunity to sample some exciting routes with me.

Initially our plan was to climb Purblind Pillar (III, 5.8), a somewhat new route that makes its way up the Angel Food Wall. But upon our arrival, we were surprised to find two other parties already on route. As such we decided to change our objective. Instead, we decided to climb the first two pitches of Group Therapy (III, 5.7) and then transition over to Tunnel Vision (III, 5.7) for the last three pitches.

I've done this combination route a number of times. It's an absolute blast as it climbs the classic low pitches of Group Therapy and then transitions into the super-fun tunnel pitch on Tunnel Vision.

Now here's the really cool part. Toni's husband, Roger, is an amateur photographer with a professional's eye. He rented a telephoto lens for his camera and took photos of us as we climbed the route. Toni then took the photos and made them into a video.

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